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Hello everyone! It was my husbands birthday yesterday and this Hazelnut cake was his birthday cake wish. The recipe is adapted from my 1982 Betty Bossi book, my usual go to for European style cakes. It has a rich hazelnut flavor, a little bit of rum, no butter and only a tiny bit of flour. The only heavy part of the cake is the whipped cream, I really like it, but have to admit I do not tolerate cream that well, I ended up having a stomach ache. That is why I mostly eat dairy free, I don’t seem to have a problem with butter and eat only once in a while some cheese…I used to eat a lot of cheese before!

My husband loved it! It is really delicious!

I’ve been busy looking after my son, he has been sick with a high fever since Sunday. Poor guy, he was only able to eat a tiny slice of the cake.

Prepare the cake at least 1 day ahead before cutting and adding the filling. I made the cake refined sugar free, feel free to use regular sugar. The recipe is only for 2 layers. I ended up baking another half of the recipe, you could also just double the recipe. I drizzled the bottom 2 layers with a little bit more rum before spreading the whipped cream.

-Whip egg whites with the salt and baking powder until stiff peaks form. Add the honey and continue to whip for a little longer.

-Mix hazelnuts and flour, add to the egg yolk mix, alternating with egg whites, a little at the time, and gently fold under with a spatula. Pour into prepared form.

-Bake in preheated 180C for 20 minutes then reduce heat to 150C and bake for about 40 minutes, or toothpick inserted into middle comes out clean. Let cool completely. Let rest for 1-3 days before cutting and filling.

Happy weekend everyone!! This was a very special week for us; we celebrated our daughters 18th Birthday! I have to admit this comes with some mixed feelings and maybe a few secret tears:) Yes my babies are growing up, making me think back to when they were little, time goes by so fast indeed, but now I have a grown up daughter, and I am very proud of the young lady she’s become!

We share a love for all things coconut, usually my kids let me know what kind of cake they would like to have on their birthday, but this year they were both asking for a surprise:) I’ve made her a almond coconut cake with raw Raffaello truffles, you could of course use the real Raffaello truffles. I’ve made the cake refined-sugar free; almond coconut sponge filled with coconut whipped cream, so simple but so delicious!

If you love coconut you’ll love this cake!!

Almond Coconut (Raffaello) Cake

Almond Coconut Sponge

6 large eggs, room temperature

pinch of salt

1 cup honey or sugar

1/2 cup almonds, ground

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1 cup all-purpose unbleached flour

1 tsp almond extract

500 ml whipping cream, 35%, chilled

1 tsp vanilla sugar

1/4 cup honey or icing sugar

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1 cup canned coconut milk

8 or more Ferrero Raffaello truffles, optional

lightly toasted shredded coconut, optional

-Grease and line a bottom and sides of a 9-inch (23 cm) pan with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 340F/170C.

-Separate egg whites from yolks. Add a pinch of salt to the whites and start mixing until foamy. Gradually add honey or sugar and continue whipping until stiff peaks form.

-Mix egg yolks with almond extract and fold into the whipped whites.

-Mix together ground almonds, coconut and flour then gradually and carefully incorporate into the whites.

-Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool for about 10-15 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on a rack.

For the whipped cream frosting:

-In a large bowl mix the whipping cream and the vanilla sugar. Whip until lightly/almost stiff then gradually add the honey or icing sugar, as sweet as you like it, continue whipping until stiff peaks form. Fold in the shredded coconut.

Assemble the cake:

-Divide the sponge cake into 3 layers. Place one layer on a serving plate. Spread 1/3 cup coconut milk over the cake. Spread evenly with a bit less then a third of the whipped cream. Top with second cake layer and repeat. Add the third layer of cake. Cover the top and sides of the cake with whipped cream, leaving it like that or get creative with piping rosettes and so on. Decorate with Raffaello truffles and toasted coconut. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Tip: You could get fancy and drizzle some coconut liquor (Malibu) over the sponge layers:)

Here is another Streusel cake I’ve made. You can find my Apple-Crumb-Cake here: Apple-Crumb-Cake/ Apfelstreuselkuchen. With all the amazing summer fruits and berries in season now, we just had to have another Streuselkuchen:) This time I used peaches and it was so good. It is not quit the same recipe as the Apple-Crumb-Cake, I think it was even better:)

My kids are having their long summer vacation now, that means we have more time to do things together like baking! These are some of the things my daughter and I’ve created so far;)

June is usually the month when we get the first Ontario Strawberries, depending on where you live of course. We also have some plants in our garden, which are full of flowers this year, and I’ve seen some green unripe berries. I can’t wait to taste the first berries:)

June is also the month of my birthday:) June 2nd. I’ve made this amazing tasting strawberry coconut cake. Imagine coconut cake with a creamy mascarpone filling and strawberry puree! It is perfect for the month of strawberries;) or as other summer fruits come along I am sure it would taste great with cherries or other berries and so on.

Our strawberry plants.

Strawberry-Coconut-Cake/Erdbeer-Kokos-Torte

Coconut cake:

3 eggs

pinch of salt

100 coconut sugar, or sugar

75 g flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

40 g coconut, shredded unsweetened

30 g butter, melted

-Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Line the bottom of a 22 cm round Springform baking pan with parchment paper.

-Mix eggs, salt and coconut sugar well for a few minutes. Mix flour and baking powder and sift it into the bowl with the egg mixture. Gently mix. Add coconut and melted butter only until combined. Pour into prepared baking pan. Bake for about 30 minutes or until tester inserted in middle comes out clean. Let cool completely.

Strawberry layer:

1/2 organic lemon, zest and juice

250 g strawberries

2 tbsp cornstarch

3 tbsp water

-Puree strawberries, lemon juice and zest. Mix together well cornstarch and water, add to strawberry puree. Over medium heat bring puree to a boil, and let cook for about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool down, then put in fridge.

Coconut Mascarpone Cream:

500 g mascarpone

150 ml coconut cream

100 ml honey, plus 2 tbsp

350 ml whipped cream

1 packet vanilla sugar

2 pouches unflavored gelatin

75 g coconut, shredded unsweetened

-Mix together mascarpone, coconut cream and honey, add shredded coconut. Prepare gelatin as directed. Add a few tablespoons of the mascarpone cream to the gelatin and mix, then add it to the rest of the cream. Whip whipping cream until stiff, add 2 tbsp honey or sugar, whisk again then fold gently under the mascarpone cream. Cover and leave in fridge until cake has completely cooled down.

Extras and Decoration:

Coconut liquor, Rum, Kirsch Schnapps…(optional, leave out if you have little kids eating)

100 ml whipped cream

250 g strawberries

-Place cake on a plate or cake stand. Drizzle some liquor on top. Place and close cake ring back around the cake. Spoon some of the strawberry puree into middle leaving a 2 cm space around. Cover with 2/3 of the mascarpone cream, spread evenly. Mix rest of puree with remaining mascarpone cream. Spoon onto cake then gently swirl, not going to deep until you have a desired look, kind of like a marbled look. Let set in refrigerator overnight.

-Carefully remove cake ring. I used a hot knive to go around first, to loosen it a bit.

-Decorate with whipped cream, strawberries and some shredded coconut if desired, to your liking:)

–you can use regular sugar to replace the coconut sugar and the honey–

Recipe by Ursula, A little Swiss a little Canadian

I wish you all a great weekend! Happy long weekend for those in Europe (Pfingsten)!